After serving 18 years in a NY penitentiary for murder, Fernando Bermudez was declared innocent and the charges against him were dismissed.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice John Cataldo dismissed the indictment against the 40-year-old father of three who was convicted in 1991 for killing 16-year-old Raymond Blount after Blount punched another teen in the Marc Ballroom.

Bermudez was serving a 23-years-to-life sentence in Sing Sing.

After dismissing the charges, Justice Cataldo scolded prosecutors for not acknowledging sooner that they had the wrong man.

The case was dismissed on grounds that a cooperating witness had lied in court, and other witnesses, who later recanted their stories, were improperly allowed to confer about a mug shot of Bermudez before fingering him as the shooter.

Bermudez is facing a 27-month federal drug sentence stemming from a 1991 arrest; however, the judge has agreed to recommend the sentence be vacated.